The ultimate answer to the question 42

[ElPolloDiabl]

I think I solved that question plus answer... of why how everything...
It's a time paradox. How can I still exist if I go back in time and prevent my own father or mother from meeting? But the answer to the that is that an alternate reality would be created. Going further other alternate realities will branch off everytime you get a thought.

Think about the small dog swallowing a fleet of spacecraft.

Plus the question and the answer is part of the cycle. Suppose you make an accurate prediction of the future and tell everyone. All of a sudden a new reality branches off with that prediction added to the ongoing cycle.

.......

A better method for calculating pi.
I you use a near infinite number base you will get a very accurate computation of pi. I can envision a massive computer capable of doing this. Pi is another example of a paradox, or more like an anomaly of 2 dimensions. A square is flat digital representation of 2 dimensions, a circle is the infinity end of 2 dimensions. Both are polar opposites of the same cycle.

[Karlos]

A better method for calculating pi.
I you use a near infinite number base you will get a very accurate computation of pi. I can envision a massive computer capable of doing this. Pi is another example of a paradox, or more like an anomaly of 2 dimensions. A square is flat digital representation of 2 dimensions, a circle is the infinity end of 2 dimensions. Both are polar opposites of the same cycle.

There's no such thing as "near infinite". By definition, infinity is infinitely larger than any finite number.

To get the the best value of pi, just use pi as your number base. Then pi=1. You just can't easily convert it back to another base.

[ElPolloDiabl]

err ahem, oh, yes.

[ElPolloDiabl]

Okay here's another one... Because we no longer have 1&2 cents coins... Every 6 cents and 7 cents is rounded down to 5 cents. Every 8 and 9 cents is rounded up to 10 cents.

Using infinite probability calculations we could eventually have either zero money or infinite money...

[Methuselas]

Okay here's another one... Because we no longer have 1&2 cents coins... Every 6 cents and 7 cents is rounded down to 5 cents. Every 8 and 9 cents is rounded up to 10 cents.
 
Using infinite probability calculations we could eventually have either zero money or infinite money...

 
If we're going that far, we might as well all move to the Euro and mandate a Guinness Brewery in every country in the world, to eliminate my beer costs.

[motorollin]

A square is flat digital representation of 2 dimensions, a circle is the infinity end of 2 dimensions.

Why is a circle infinite? It has measurable dimensions and a boundary separating it from whatever surrounds it. It is no different in these respects to a square.

[Haranguer]

I figured this one out ages ago.  It's in base 13.

According to the books, the ultimate question to the answer is "What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?", to which Arthur Dent says, "I always thought there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe".

But 6 time 9 is 54, which in base 13 is 42 ...

Yeah, I know.  I have too much time on my hands :rofl

[stefcep2]

Why is a circle infinite? It has measurable dimensions and a boundary separating it from whatever surrounds it. It is no different in these respects to a square.

How much area exactly does it occupy?  Or how long exactly is its edge?

[gertsy]

I have this theory.

If you look at the numbers in binary (ignoring anything above the 7th bit) you get:

0101010 = 42  And
0110110 = 54  a Pattern?  If you repeat these over and over again you get:
0101010
0110110
0101010

This is where my theory gets really interesting:
I can see a very basic representation of a DNA helix here. As one might appear on a ZX Spectum user definable graphic block. But then I have had a few single malt whiskeys.

Actually at this point my theory falls flat and is possibly why I seem to be having so much trouble with my lifestyle lately.

Which is why I have proposed another theory on Dinosaurs to compensate. much less complicated.

Gertsy

[motorollin]

How much area exactly does it occupy?  Or how long exactly is its edge?

It is easy to estimate the area or circumference of a circle using simple equations. These can only be estimates since pi is imprecise, but that doesn't mean that a circle has infinite area or circumference.

If I walk around the edge of a circle, have I travelled an infinite distance? Of course not. And if I take a piece of string and wrap it around the edge of a circle, then lay it out straight and measure it, will my measurement reveal that the string is of infinite length? Of course not.

[Wayne]

Is there some reason this thread isn't in the Coffee House?

Wayne

[Zac67]

The inability to exactly express pi is largely due to lacking the skill, it's not necessarily pi's fault. As Karlos suggested, just use it as your number base. Now imagine a circle with radius pi.
base 10:
r = pi
area = pi^3 ~= 31,006276680299820175476315067101

base pi:
r=1
area = 1^3 = 1 - voilá

Having trouble counting your fingers in this number base? Well, it ain't that easy.

In real life you're stuck with units anyway (cm, inch, whatever) which you can't break down, so just leave the pi as unit and you have an 'exact' figure.

[stefcep2]

It is easy to estimate the area or circumference of a circle using simple equations. These can only be estimates since pi is imprecise, but that doesn't mean that a circle has infinite area or circumference.

If I walk around the edge of a circle, have I travelled an infinite distance? Of course not. And if I take a piece of string and wrap it around the edge of a circle, then lay it out straight and measure it, will my measurement reveal that the string is of infinite length? Of course not.

infinite in the sense that it will take an infinitely long number to determine exactly what its length and area is.  perhaps a better term is indeterminate?

[motorollin]

infinite in the sense that it will take an infinitely long number to determine exactly what its length and area is.

No it won't. We just don't know how many decimal points of pi to go to to get the precise area. If we knew exactly what factor to use in the equation (i.e. how long to make pi) then we could calculate the area of the circle.

perhaps a better term is indeterminate?

Perhaps the best way to put it is that we are unable to calculate the precise area of a circle because our mathematics are not sufficient to do so.

[Karlos]

Perhaps the best way to put it is that we are unable to calculate the precise area of a circle because our mathematics are not sufficient to do so.

Actually, I have to agree with stefcep2 here. Our mathematics is fine in this regard. The area of any circle is pi*r*r. For any given value of r, we can quote the precise area, albeit as a factor of pi.

The precise value of pi is the problem. In our preferred number base, pi, like e, just isn't a convenient value to work with. There are a number of geometic and algebraic series solutions to calculate pi. We can calculate it to any arbitrary precision we want, it has been calculated to over 1 billion decimal places by the end of the 1980's.

The problem is, we don't know if pi is normal or not. It certainly isn't normal up to as many decimal places have been computed. The same is true for e, nor do we know if they are truly independent.

So, I would suggest stefcep2 is correct to use the term indeterminate.